Words: Natalie Knight-Griffin / Photos: Eliza Andrew

On Friday, May 4, the Centennial girls varsity lacrosse team fell to Marriotts Ridge after celebrating their senior night. A total of nine seniors played in their last home game of their high school career: Julia Grable, Claudia Pilcher, Mary Grace Lambert, Sydney Back, Meghan Moore, Gaby Chausse, Ashley Florenzo, Camden Blevins, and Julia Yates.

The Mustangs came out strong, scoring the first goal of the game within the first 13 seconds. The Eagles struggled to keep up until senior attacker Julia Yates scored a stealthy first goal, bringing the score to 5-1. Ten minutes into the game, Eagles called for a time out after losing steam and falling farther behind. Feeling tired yet more determined than ever, the Eagles re-entered the game hopeful to make a comeback.

Junior Marissa Lagea scored her 100th career goal, making the score 10-2 with five minutes remaining. In the final minutes before the half, the clock continued running during each goal transition with Mustangs in the far lead.

At the end of the half, the Mustangs lead the Eagles at 16-2. Head coach Bethany Cunha inspired the team to keep their heads up as they sat in a circle and cooled down.

At the beginning of the second half, senior midfielder Claudia Pilcher scored the third goal for the Eagles. Pilcher later scored the fourth and final goal for the Eagles, bringing the game to a close at 19-4.

Despite the hard fall to the Mustangs, the Eagles played an intense game and enjoyed their final farewell to seniors.

For more breaking news and photos, follow The Wingspan on Instagram and Twitter @CHSWingspan.

Interview: Caroline Chu and Natalie Knight-Griffin

Photo: Eliza Andrew

John Sharbaugh, who teaches English, was recently selected as Centennial’s 2017-2018 senior Teacher of the Year. The prestigious title is awarded to the teacher that they most appreciated throughout their high school years. In this podcast, Sharbaugh shares classroom stories and personal memories that both inspired and changed his teaching career.

Words: Eliza Andrew

This spring, Marylanders have a new bug they expect to take over their state. Every year, as temperatures rise and winter comes to a close, the outbreak of the brown, odorous stink bug, which has occurred since 2006, hits Maryland at enormous levels. The harmless bug is nothing compared to the tree-eating gypsy moth that hit the state in the 1980s, yet the new alien to hit Maryland is expected to be even worse than the previous two. The spotted lanternfly, a four-winged bright bug, originated from parts of Asia including China, Vietnam, and several areas of India. It’s expected to travel down from southeast Pennsylvania this spring.

The bug was first introduced to America when a shipment of stone was brought to Berks County, PA, where the lanternfly eggs attached to the crates. Although these bugs aren’t directly harmful to people, they have infested the area and have left dozens of hardwood decks, furniture, and many fruit gardens covered in the lanternfly’s goo. The goo, otherwise known as honeydoo, can be left by the bug either while on the ground or flying above the item, dropping the honeydoo from above. Since this fly is not native to the area, and has a quick reproduction time, there are no known predators or remedies to regulate the population.

This brainy bug has tendency to latch onto different modes of transportation, including cars, trucks, and trains, making the lanternfly’s location spread even wider to unknown parts of the country. Although the bug has four, strong wings, the lanternfly is known to travel by hopping more than flying. Starting from a young age, the baby lanternfly or nymph has to learn to move around until it finally grows its wings later on in its development. Which means lots of bugs on the ground as well as in the air. They make their way inside of homes and buildings, similar to the stink bug.

There is no exact date on which we are to expect the spotted lanternfly, but since its first appearance in 2014 in Pennsylvania, the bug has turned up in parts of Delaware. Therefore, the bug is expected to make its timely appearance in Maryland this spring into summer. Residents of Maryland are cautioned to be on the lookout for the lanternfly’s egg sacks, which could be mistaken for unusual colored fungus on tree bark. If any sacks are found, the resident who spotted them is highly urged to alert Maryland wildlife control immediately to limit and prevent the infestation of the environmentally-harmful spotted lanternfly.

Words: Eliza Andrew

On the night of February 8th, Howard County Public School System’s Superintendent Michael J. Martirano decided to shorten the county’s spring break from five school days, to two school days. The new spring break will now be from March 30-April 3, removing April 4-6.

This decision was made following two additional snow days this past week, totaling the county’s number of inclement weather days to four. There is a necessity to make up these days in order to meet the required 180 days of school to complete the year.

May 18 has been designated as a make-up half day instead of the proposed February 19, which would have taken a day away from President’s Day weekend, but was not due to budgetary reasons.

June 15 has been left as an option for another make-up day, if another snow day were to occur. That is the last day that can be taken off of summer due to the state mandated end of the year.

This day has been left as a final resort because of the Muslim holiday that falls on this day. No school testing or activities can be held on this day, and only attendance would be required. If any additional days are needed, HCPSS will petition the Maryland States Board of Education for a waiver of the remainder of days.

For more breaking news and photos, follow The Wingspan on Instagram and Twitter @CHSWingspan.

Photos and Words: Eliza Andrew

On Monday, October 30, the Centennial Eagles field hockey players wrapped up their season and play-offs run with the 4-1 defeat against their rivals, the Mt. Hebron Vikings. For the seniors, this might be the last time they step out on the field as an Eagle, so they came ready for a fight. The rest of the team knew they had to play their hardest if they wanted to continue their journey with their senior teammates. The Eagles won possession of the ball at the start of the game, and within only a couple minutes, senior Lauren Muma scored the first goal for the Eagles with an assist coming from senior Camden Blevins. According to Muma, “I am sad that [the season] is over, but it was such a fun season and being able to score with Camden was amazing.” The Vikings were able to score a goal, tying up the game.

Both teams defended well, and the half ended with the score tied of one to one. Once the teams regrouped after halftime, both teams went in with new energy, and within the first 5 minutes of the second half, Hebron had scored once again, taking the lead 2-1. The Eagles offense and defense played well throughout the game, but unfortunately, the Vikings scored two more times within 10 minutes, and the final score was 4-1. The 2017-2018 season was an amazing one for the Centennial Eagles, going to the third round of play-offs, and ending the season with an great game.

For more breaking news and photos, follow The Wingspan on Instagram and Twitter @CHSWingspan.

There were 4 races: JV boys, JV girls, Varsity Boys, and Varsity girls. Centennial placed 3rd overall in the boys Varsity race, with senior Steven Mitchell placing 14th, and senior Greg Costello placing 3rd, both making the top 15 for the boys. The girls, placing 2nd overall, had 3 girls in the top 15: junior Cora Blount placed 11th, junior Alison Betler placing 6th, and senior Kirsten Wikner placing 5th. This was a great race day for Centennial, because of their top placement on the scoreboards, and was overall a great day for the Cross Country Eagles. The Varsity teams will continue against Reservoir and Oakland Mills on November 2, at Centennial for the regional championship.

For more breaking news and photos, follow The Wingspan on Instagram and Twitter @CHSWingspan.